A criminal case has been opened in Krasnodar Krai after schoolgirls threw flowers into the Eternal Flame.

The Investigative Committee for Krasnodar Krai has opened a criminal case for desecration of symbols of military glory (part 3 article 354.1 of the Criminal Code) after two schoolgirls threw flowers at the Eternal Flame memorial in the village of Petrovskaya. The press service of the Investigative Committee reported this, and the media outlet Caucasus.Realities drew attention to it.

“The media reports the desecration of a memorial to those who died during the Great Patriotic War in the village of Petrovskaya, Krasnodar Krai, a region in southern Russia. Two schoolgirls, while at the memorial, threw flowers plucked from a flowerbed into the Eternal Flame, filming their actions on a mobile phone camera,” reads the agency’s statement.

It is also noted that the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has requested a report from the investigators on the progress and results of the investigation.

Earlier, the regional Interior Ministry’s Telegram channel reported that two girls, aged 13 and 14, “for unexplained reasons, started pulling flowers from a flowerbed and throwing them at the memorial on Russia Day, 12 June.” The teenagers and their parents were given a preventive talk.

• In May, a similar criminal case was opened against three minors in Pugachev, a town in the Saratov region, after they dried their clothes over the Eternal Flame. In recent years, the number of criminal cases for desecration of World War II monuments has increased several times due to a range of actions by citizens near the Eternal Flame: dancing, cooking food, drinking alcohol and so on. You can read more about this in the OVD-Info report.